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wILLlAKtS  I 
COLLEGE 
DUPLICA_TE 

SOL.D 


In  fIDemoriam. 


SUSAN     WADDEN    TURNER. 


Professor    WILLIAM    WADDEN    TURNER, 
Librarian  of  the  Tatent  Office,  Washington,  D.  C. 


JANE    WADDEN    TURNER, 

Recorder  of  Scientific  Collections  and  Exchanges  at  the  Smithsonian 

Institution  for  thirty  years,  and  for  twenty  years  Assistant 

Librarian  to  the  Library  of  Congress. 


.  ■  ^       ^    »  •^  rv  ■«'  - 

'■    'i  ■:■  \J       '.-':<    \  ■  : 


Prefatory  note. 


Since  this  Memorial  was  written  the  English  family  of 
Wadden  Turners  has  become  extinct. 

Miss  Susan  Wadden  Turner,  born  in  England  in  1808, 
the  eldest  member  of  this  family,  was  the  last  to  die.  By  her 
motherly  devotion  she  had  made  the  scientific  services  of 
her  brother  and  sister  possible. 

She  died  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1898,  and  on  the  8th  her  remains  were  laid  beside  those  of 
her  brother  and  sister  in  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,  Washington, 
D.  C. 

It  is  on  account  of  the  extremely  incorrect  statements 
incorporated  into  official  obituaries  that  the  surviving  friends 
of  Professor  Turner  desire  this  Memorial  to  be  printed. 

Washington,  D.  C,  November  i,  i8g8. 


iWetnortaL 


Professor  WILLIAM    W.    TURNER. 

Born  in  London  in  iSii. 
Died  in  Washington,   D.  C,   November    29,  1859,   aged    forty-eight    years. 

JANE    WADDEN    TURNER. 

Born  in  London  in  iSiS. 

Died  in  Washington,   D.  C,   February    2,    1896,  aged  seventy-eight  years. 

Probably  the  first  ^voman  systematically  trained  as  a  librarian. 


IN  18 1 8  an  English  vessel  sailing  from  London  to 
New  York  City  brought  to  this  country  a  very 
remarkable  family.  Robert  Wadden  Turner  and  his 
wife,  Elisabeth  Jameson,  brought  with  them  three 
children,  survivors,  we  are  told,  of  a  much  larger 
family.  The  eldest,  Susan,  was  then  ten  years  old  ; 
William  Wadden,  the  second  child,  was  only  seven ; 
and  Jane  Wadden,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  had  been 
born  only  three  months  before. 

Robert  Turner  must  have  come  with  some  small 
capital,  or  at  least  with  letters  which  gave  him  a 
certain  credit.  He  had  been  a  prosperous  London 
builder,  but  having  endorsed  for  a  near  relative,  and 
having  lost  heavily  on  a  block  of  houses  recently 
erected  there,  found  it  necessary  in  those  days  of 
legal  restraint  to  seek  a  support  for  his  family  in  a 
new  home.  Had  he  been  penniless  he  could  not 
have  entered  at  once,  as  he  did,  on  journeys  to  Caro- 
lina for  yellow  pine,  and  to  Havana  for  the  rarer 
woods  used  in  house  building.  So  engaged  in  the 
winter  of  1821,  he  took  the   yellow   fever  at  Havana 


6 

and  died.  The  mother,  left  alone  with  her  little 
ones,  opened  a  small  shop,  which  she  kept  success- 
fully until,   in   1828,  she  followed  her  husband. 

As  William  was  at  this  time  only  seventeen,  it  is 
probable  that  the  closing  of  the  lumber  business  and 
sale  of  the  shop  must  have  afforded  some  ready  money. 
Otherwise  it  is  impossible  to  see  how  the  family  could 
have  removed  to  Brooklyn  and  sustained  themselves 
on  their  scanty  resources. 

Susan  was  at  this  time  twenty-one,  and  became 
at  once,  what  she  always  continued,  their  thrifty  and 
motherly  housekeeper. 

Before  this  time  William  had  quitted  the  school 
of  John  Walsh,  long  remembered  as  a  capable  in- 
structor and  cruel  man.  In  selecting  his  own  life 
work  young  Turner  was  hampered  by  the  necessary 
care  of  his  sisters.  When  he  was  only  six  years  old 
he  had  heard  his  father  discussing  in  their  London 
home  the  meaning  of  a  Scripture  text,  and,  young  as 
he  was,  he  understood  enough  of  the  point  at  issue 
to  determine  that  he  would  sometime  study  Hebrew 
and  read  the  Bible  for  himself.  This  resolution  he 
held  fast,  and  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death 
selected  the  trade  of  a  printer,  as  one  that  would 
help  him  in  his  intellectual  development  and  afford 
opportunities  he  could  not  otherwise  secure. 

The  life  of  industry  and  self-denial  which  he  then 
entered  upon  had  its  reward.  Hand-presses  were 
still  in  use,  and  he  employed  a  German  boy  as 
"roller,"  to  whom  he  paid  a  trifle  extra  for  the  chance 
of  getting,  through  him,  a  fair  command  of  that 
language.  Far  into  night  he  studied,  mastering 
Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  cognate  Oriental  tongues 
by  stern   perseverance   and    such    assistance   as  could 


be  rendered  by  Dr.  Isaac  Nordheimer,  who  was  then 
professor  of  Hebrew  at  Columbia. 

In  1830  life  in  Brooklyn  meant  life  in  the  country 
and  much  pleasure  in  the  open  air.  Jane  always 
looked  back  to  it  as  the  happiest  part  of  her  life. 
Nothing  do  we  know  of  her  schooling,  but  a  good 
foundation  had  probably  been  laid  before  her  mother's 
death,  and  the  trend  of  her  studies  later  shows  that 
she  must  even  then  have  worked  under  her  brother's 
direction. 

When  his  sisters  were  comfortably  established  in 
Brooklyn,  William  went  to  New  Haven  to  pursue  his 
Oriental  studies,  a  step  in  which  he  was  doubtless 
aided  by  the  friends  he  had  made  at  Columbia,  and 
probably  supported  by  payments  made  by  Dr.  Nord- 
heimer, who  was  about  to  publish  his  Hebrew  Gram- 
mar, Chrestomathy  and  Concordance.  Yale  College 
possessed  the  only  Hebrew  font  in  the  country,  and 
Mr.  Turner's  principal  occupation  was  the  printing  of 
Dr.  Nordheimer's  work.  Here  he  remained  for  two 
years,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  short  visit  to 
his  sisters,  when  he  was  occupied  in  adjusting  their 
affairs,  a  fact  which  seems  to  indicate  some  small 
resources. 

When  his  work  at  New  Haven  was  finished,  he 
removed  his  family  to  New  York,  to  be  near  Colum- 
bia, where  he  now  found  profitable  employment,  and 
probably  needed  the  constant  use  of  its  library.  This 
was  in  1833,  and  in  1838  Dr.  Nordheimer  brought 
out  his  great  work,  and  in  his  introduction  gave 
great  credit  to  William  Turner  for  effectual  assist- 
ance in  its  preparation. 

At  this  time  the  young  Englishman  was  not  quite 
twenty-seven.      The   library  of    Columbia    was    being 


8 

reorganized.  In  1837  the  college  celebrated  the  fif- 
tieth anniversary  of  its  existence  as  the  "  University 
of  the  State.  "  It  purchased  a  valuable  library  from 
Professor  Moore,  and  having  appointed  its  late  owner 
librarian,  empowered  him  to  begin  a  reorganization  of 
the  old  library  with  this  addition.  This  work  took 
more  than  a  year  and  included  the  preparation  of  a 
catalogue.  Mr.  Turner  was  one  of  Professor  Moore's 
assistants,  and  when,  in  1842,  the  professor  became 
president  of  the  college,  his  great  acquirements  had 
become  widely  known  and  he  was  offered  the  chair 
of  Oriental  Literature  in  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

This  position  he  held  when  he  was  called  to  Wash- 
ington, in  1852.  He  came  to  organize  the  library  of 
the  Patent  Office,  undoubtedly  recommended  by  the 
authorities  of  the  university  and  the  seminary  with 
which  he  had  been  connected.  Very  soon  after  his 
arrival  he  sent  for  his  sisters.  He  was  by  this  time 
a  distinguished  philologist.  An  accomplished  gentle- 
man, such  as  no  one  but  a  man  naturally  refined  and 
sensitive  can  become,  his  wonderful  achievements 
challenged  the  attention  of  every  one  interested  in 
such  studies. 

"He  was  a  wonderful  and  admirable  man,"  writes 
Professor  F'arquhar  of  the  Columbian  University. 
"He  picked  up  his  myriad  languages  Burritt-like.  I 
always  wished  I  might  have  seen  him." 

That  was  true,  but  much  more  was  true  also. 
He  was  iio  rustic,  nor  could  he  have  done  otherwise 
than  inherit  rare  intellectual  gifts,  from  however  remote 
a  source.  He  could  not  have  been  wholly  untrained 
when,  as  a  child  of  six,  he  determined  to  learn  Hebrew. 

In  1855,  on  the  13th  of  September,  he  married 
Mary    Meade    Randolph,    of    the    old    Virginia   family. 


She  was  the  daughter  of  Colonel  William  B.  Randolph 
and  Sarah  Lingan.  She  still  survives  him,  and  it  is 
delightful  to  hear  her  talk  of  his  exquisite  smile,  the 
tender  tones  of  his  voice,  his  love  of  children  and  all 
young  creatures.  Especial  delight  does  she  seem  to 
take  in  referring  to  the  wonderful  illumination  of  his 
countenance  when  talking  to  his  friends  on  subjects 
connected  with  his  favorite  study. 

Immediately  after  arriving  in  Washington  both  he 
and  his  sisters  became  intimate  in  the  family  of  the 
late  Professor  Baird,  where  the  fine  gifts  of  the  women 
were  appreciated  as  never  before.  In  the  lovely 
home  of  the  professor,  presided  over  by  the  genial, 
warm-hearted  woman  whom  every  scientist  who  ever 
knew  her  remembers  with  affection,  the  Turners  soon 
became  privileged  inmates.  Their  Sundays  were  spent 
with  these  new  friends,  and  Thanksgiving  Days  and 
Christmas  week  always  found  the  sisters  there  to 
assist,  by  gentle  humor  and  delightful  gifts,  in  en- 
tertaining the  homeless  students  whom  Mrs.  Baird 
always  gathered  around  her  at  such  times. 

Professor  Turner  soon  became  the  especial  friend 
of  Professor  Baird's  only  daughter,  then  a  mere  child. 
"I  had  no  other  friend  whom  I  loved  half  so  well," 
she  wrote  very  lately.  "  He  was  my  teacher  and 
companion.  He  taught  me  games  and  joined  in  my 
play,  and  was  the  one  indispensable  guest  at  my  birth- 
day parties.  When  he  died  I  refused  to  be  comforted, 
and  I  never  wanted  another  birthday  party." 

It  was  in  consequence  of  Professor  Baird's  very 
intimate  knowledge  of  him  that  Professor  Turner  was 
employed  to  catalogue  and  arrange  the  very  valuable 
library  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  He  was  busily 
occupied  at   the    Patent    Office,    where,  on  account  of 


the  increasing  delicacy  of  his  health,  he  had  received 
as  an  assistant  the  younger  sister,  whom  he  had  care- 
fully trained  to  library  work.  He  now  needed  her  at 
the  Smithsonian.  When  the  catalogue  was  completed, 
her  fitness  was  so  evident  that  he  had  no  difficulty  in 
securing  for  her  the  position  she  was  to  occupy  for 
thirty  years.  On  February,  1858,  Miss  Jane  Wadden 
Turner  became  the  Librarian  of  the  Smithsonian,  a 
position  all  the  more  acceptable  that  she  owed  it  to 
a  brother,  most  tenderly  beloved. 

During  the  year  that  had  just  closed,  after  Bu- 
chanan had  become  President,  an  attempt  was  made 
by  Jacob  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  to 
remove  Professor  Turner  and  make  the  office  of  the 
Librarian  of  the  Patent  Office  a  political  appointment. 
This  was  prevented  by  the  energy  and  indignation 
of  Professor  Henry,  then  secretary  of  the  Smithso- 
nian, who  declared  that  "  such  a  removal  would  be  a 
national  disgrace." 

In  October,  1859,  in  a  state  of  health  which 
excited  the  liveliest  anxiety  on  the  part  of  all  who 
cared  for  him.  Professor  Turner  insisted  on  attending 
the  meeting  of  the  Oriental  Society  in  the  city  of 
New  York. 

This  society  was  founded  in  1842,  and  incorpo- 
rated the  following  year,  just  after  Professor  Turner 
accepted  the  chair  at  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
and  it  would  seem  probable  that  as  "  an  active  and 
honored,  member  of  it"  a  year  or  two  later,  he  must 
have  had  a  warm  interest  in  its  inception.  His  name, 
however,  does  not  appear  on  the  list  of  members 
until   1846. 

In  1849  hs  i'G3-d  before  it  a  paper  on  "A  Japa- 
nese Romance.  "      In  1853  another  on  "Dr.  Brusch's 


Achievements  in  connection  with  Demotic  Inscrip- 
tions," and  later  two  separate  papers  on  '•  A  Sidonian 
Inscription,"  which  was  then  attracting  great  atten- 
tion. He  was  too  busy  a  man  to  write  often,  but  he 
could  never  bear  to  miss  a  meeting. 

Entirely  unfit  for  the  journey,  he  went  to  New 
York,  bent  upon  a  meeting  with  Mr.  Squiers  and 
John  R.  Bartlett,  in  connection  with  the  studies  he 
had  been  lately  pursuing.  He  was  persuaded  also  to 
consult  a  leading  physician,  who,  although  he  detected 
his  disease,  does  not  seem  to  have  discovered  how 
very  critical  was  his  condition.  He  returned  from 
New  York  on  the  19th  of  November,  and  went  to  his 
office  in  a  state  which  can  hardly  be  described  every 
day  during  the  following  week.  On  Sunday,  the  26th, 
he  was  confined  to  his  bed.  On  Monday  he  became 
unconscious,  and  at  six  o'clock  on  Tuesday  morning, 
November  29th,  passed  quietly  away. 

Immediately  after  Professor  Turner's  death  a  meet- 
ing was  held  at  the  Patent  Office.  The  Hon.  William 
D.  Bishop  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Judge  Henry 
Baldwin  was  appointed  secretary.  His  great  acquire- 
ments were  commented  on,  and  it  was  mentioned  that 
beside  his  active  connection  with  the  Oriental  Society 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Ethnological  and  Historical 
Societies  of  New  York,  and  secretary  of  the  National 
Institute  in  Washington.  It  was  to  his  untiring  assi- 
duity that  the  Patent  Office  owed  the  most  com- 
plete technical  library  in  the  world.  The  "  Resolu- 
tions" were  forwarded  to  his  wife  and  sisters,  and 
the  employees  of  the  office  wore  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  for  thirty  days. 

He  was  buried  at  Oak  Hill,  in  a  lot  purchased  by 
Colonel    Randolph    for   the    purpose,  and    during    the 


funeral  hours  the  Patent  Office  was  closed.  The 
respect  felt  for  him  everywhere  was  not  merely  that 
due  to  a  great  scholar,  but  that  won  by  the  gracious 
and  accomplished  gentleman. 

It  is  rare  that  a  man  dies  at  so  early  an  age  as 
forty-eight  who  has  accomplished  so  much  and  who 
has  made  for  himself  so  distinguished  a  position,  un- 
aided by  birth,  wealth,  or  political  influence.  But  his 
attainments  did  not  satisfy  himself. 

Professor  Turner  had  a  clear  idea  of  the  orig:inal 
work  which  he  wished  to  do.  So  long  as  he  contrib- 
uted to  the  support  of  his  sisters  he  had  to  think 
first  of  work  that  would  pay,  and  he  had  entered  his 
career  by  a  far  from  popular  road.  When  Jane's 
appointment  rendered  this  sacrifice  to  some  extent 
unnecessary.  Professor  Turner's  health  had  already 
begun  to  fail.  More  than  once  after  his  marriage  he 
confided  to  his  wife  the  sharp  disappointment  he  was 
experiencing.  It  was  the  effort  to  pursue  his  private 
studies  in  addition  to  those  connected  with  his  office 
that  had  broken  down  a  naturally  vigorous  consti- 
tution. 

On  the  4th  of  February,  i860,  a  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  was  held. 
Professor  Felton,  at  that  time  a  professor  of  Greek, 
and  a  little  later  the  president  of  Harvard  College, 
after  enumerating  the  losses  that  the  Smithsonian  had 
experienced  by  death,  spoke  as  follows  : 

"  I  take  the  liberty  of  offering  a  few  remarks  con- 
cerning another  whose  death  the  country  deplores. 
Professor  Turner  was  an  Englishman.  During  youth 
and  early  manhood  he  exhibited  an  ardent  love  of 
knowledge,  and  devoted  every  moment  he  could  spare 
to  its  acquisition.     His  taste  led  him  especially  to  the 


13 

study  of  philology,  and  his  acquisitions  were  surpris- 
ing. He  studied  not  only  the  ancient  languages, 
including  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  Samaritan, 
Coptic,  and  Sanscrit,  but  the  modern  European  and 
Oriental  tongues.  To  these  he  added  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  dialects  of  the  American  Indians, 
which  are  a  group  peculiar  in  their  characteristics  and 
important  in  their  bearings  on  comparative  philology. 
But  Mr.  Turner  was  not  merely  a  student  of  language. 
His  mind  was  of  a  philosophical  cast ;  he  mastered 
easily  and  rapidly  the  principles  of  comparative  phi- 
lology which  have  become  in  the  present  period  the 
surest  guides  in  tracincr  the  histories  and  affinities  of 
different  races.  This  science  few  men  have  explored 
so  thoroughly  as  our  departed   friend." 

After  speaking  of  Professor  Turner's  able  fulfill- 
ment of  the  duties  required  at  Union  College  and  his 
success  as  librarian  at  the  Patent  Office,  and  mention- 
ing the  papers  to  which  I  have  already  drawn  atten- 
tion.  Professor  Felton  continued  : 

"  His  literary  activity  has  been  various  and  effect- 
ive. He  assisted  the  learned  Dr.  Nordheimer  in  his 
critical  Hebrew  Grammar.  He  prepared  the  greater 
part  of  Freund's  Latin  and  German  Lexicon  for  the 
American  edition.  He  wrote  valuable  papers  for 
the  BibliotJieca  Sacra  and  kindred  publications.  A 
few  years  ago  an  inscription  was  found  near  the 
ancient  Sidon,  cut  on  the  lid  of  the  sarcophagus 
which  had  held  the  body  of  one  of  its  kings.  Trans- 
mitted to  this  country  by  the  missionaries,  it  attracted 
the  attention  of  all  Oriental  scholars.  The  discovery 
was  important,  because  the  inscription  contains  the 
longest  continuous  text  in  the  Phoenician  tongue,  a 
language    closely  connected  with    the    Hebrew.      Pro- 


14 

fessor  Turner's  labors  on  this  curious  document  were 
among  the  last  of   his  life. 

"Two  of  the  principal  philological  works  published 
by  the  Smithsonian  took  their  final  form  from  Profes- 
sor Turner  —  the  'Dakota  Grammar  and  Dictionary,' 
and  the  'Grammar  of  the  Yoruba  Language.'  The 
materials  furnished  to  Mr.  Turner  were  elaborated 
with  great  skill,  and  these  two  admirable  volumes 
form  a  valuable  addition  to  philological  science  —  the 
*  Dakota  Grammar '  illustrating  in  a  philosophical  man- 
ner the  characteristic  peculiarities  of  the  American 
type  of  polysynthetic  languages,  and  the  'Yoruba'  illus- 
trating the  African  type  of  the  same  great  division. 

"  Professor  Turner  was  not  only  distinguished  as 
an  able  scholar,  or  by  his  extraordinary  capacity  for 
labor  and  his  great  power  of  grasping  the  generaliza- 
tions of  the  science  to  which  he  was  devoted,  but  his 
private  life  was  marked  by  singular  purity.  His 
manners  were  simple  and  cordial ;  his  conversation 
lively  and  instructive.  He  was  modest  without 
reserve  ;  he  was  unobtrusive,  but  always  ready  to 
impart  his  affluent  knowledge.  The  loss  of  such  a 
man  is  a  loss  to  science  and  his  country.  I  therefore 
move  the  adoption  of  the  following  Resolution  : 

''Resolved,  That  this  Board  have  heard  with  deep 
regret  of  the  death  of  Professor  W.  W.  Turner,  a 
scholar  of  rare  gifts  and  large  acquirements,  whose 
abilities  and  learning  have  in  many  ways  been  of  great 
value  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  As  a  philolo- 
gist, he  had  few  equals ;  as  an  earnest  laborer  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge,  he  was  a  high  example  to  Amer- 
ican students.  As  a  public  officer  he  was  upright, 
conscientious,  and  prompt.  His  social  virtues  endeared 
him  to  his   friends    in  no   common    measure.     By  his 


IS 

death  American  scholarship  has  sustained  a  heavy 
loss,  this  institution  has  been  deprived  of  an  efficient 
colaborator,  and  the  community  of  a  virtuous  and 
distinguished  citizen.  " 

In  copying  the  remarks  of  Professor  Felton  from 
the  report  of  the  Board  of  Regents  I  have  not  only 
condensed  them  as  much  as  possible,  but  I  have  omit- 
ted all  paragraphs  containing  repetitions  of  what  is 
already  known  to  my  readers. 

The  most  intimate  friends  of  Professor  Turner 
appear  to  have  been  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ewbank,  the  Com- 
missioner of  Patents  who  called  him  to  Washington, 
the  celebrated  Albert  Gallatin,  who  was  distinguished 
for  his  knowledge  of  aboriginal  dialects,  and  John  R. 
Bartlett,  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  deter- 
mine the  boundary  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States,  whose  secretary  Professor  Turner  would  have 
become  from  1850  to  1853  had  not  his  duty  to  his 
family  kept  him  at  his  New  York  and  Washington 
desks. 

A  complete  list  of  his  literary  remains  has  never 
been  made  and  probably  never  could  be.  After  the 
death  of  his  sister  Jane,  a  large  quantity  of  Oriental 
notes  and  MSS.  in  William's  handwriting  were  discov- 
ered among  her  papers,  and  these  were  entrusted  to 
Professor  Adler   of  the  Smithsonian. 

His  library  was  sold  in  New  York  in  May,  i860. 
There  was  a  large  attendance  and  the  books  brought 
good  prices.  That  in  his  circumstances  he  should 
have  been  able  to  accumulate  such  a  collection  is  a 
valuable  testimony  to  the  industry  and  economy  which 
shortened  a  precious  life. 

As  this  paper  is  written  as  a  memorial  to  Miss 
Jane    Turner   it    may  seem    singular    that   so    large  a 


i6 

space  has  been  devoted  to  her  brother.  If  any  accu- 
rate account  had  ever  been  written  of  Professor  Turner 
and  his  family  this  would  not  have  been  necessary, 
but  neither  his  origin,  his  age,  nor  his  occupation 
have  hitherto  been  correctly  stated. 

Mrs.  Robert  Turner  had  been  twice  married.  The 
children  of  her  first  marriage,  which  were  much  older 
than  those  brought  to  this  country,  and  the  corre- 
spondence with  them  which  survived  her,  shows  them 
to  have  been  not  only  brilliant,  but  well  educated. 
Robert  Turner  was  no  carpenter,  but  a  prosperous 
contractor  in  London,  who  is  found  to  be  engaged  in 
extensive  purchases  of  lumber  in  the  Southern  States 
and  Havana  immediately  on  his  arrival  in  this  coun- 
try. Nor  did  Professor  Turner  himself  ever  serve  an 
apprenticeship  to  any  trade   beside  that  of  a  printer. 

After  his  death  his  two  sisters  established  a  home 
in  Washington,  near  to  the  library  in  which  Jane  was 
employed.  During  the  years  that  followed  she  was 
never  known  to  have  a  sick  day,  and  the  skill  with 
which  she  assorted  and  recorded  the  various  publica- 
tions which  came  into  her  hands  excited  the  admira- 
tion of  the  scholars  and  scientists  who  came  in  contact 
with  her.  Her  labels  were  clear  and  accurate,  an 
accomplishment  so  rare  as  to  deserve  a  record. 

Her  sympathy  with  the  pursuits  of  those  who  fre- 
quented her  rooms,  her  ready  help  and  unfailing  cour- 
tesy made  her  the  friend  of  all.  She  was,  so  far  as 
her  time  would  allow,  a  careful  student  of  many  of 
the  books  which  passed  through  her  hands. 

After  the  great  fire  which  partially  destroyed  the 
Smithsonian  Library  it  was  Professor  Henry's  desire 
to  free  the  institution  from  the  expense  and  care  which 
its  custody  involved,  and  in   1866  Congress  passed  an 


17 

act  by  which  the  Government  assumed  the  charge, 
and  after  a  brief  inspection  at  the  Smithsonian,  peri- 
odicals and  contributions  from  foreign  governments 
were  deposited  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  Miss  Tur- 
ner continuing  to  manage  the  great  system  of  ex- 
changes. She  was  then  appointed  an  assistant  to  Mr, 
Spofford,  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  with  a  suitable 
salary. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  family  record  had  been 
lost  at  the  time  of  their  removal  from  New  York,  the 
sisters  in  their  later  years  became  a  little  confused  as 
to  their  own  ages,  and  imagined  themselves  older  than 
they  were.  It  was  Miss  Jane's  intention  to  resign 
her  position  at  the  close  of  a  quarter  of  a  century's 
service,  but  Professor  Baird  persuaded  her  to  delay  it, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  27th  of  January,  1886,  when 
she  believed  herself  to  be  seventy  years  old,  that  her 
resignation  was  handed  in.  She  was  in  reality  only 
sixty-eight.  Successive  attacks  of  "  grippe "  after- 
wards exhausted  her  vitality,  and  she  sank  after  a 
short  illness,  dying  in  her  sleep,  February  2,  1896, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-eight.  Her  body  was  laid 
beside  that  of  her  brother  at  Oak  Hill. 

Her  life  had  been  so  quiet  and  uneventful,  and 
her  contact  with  her  old  friends  so  accidental  during 
the  last  ten  years,  that  it  was  difificult  to  secure  ade- 
quate estimates  of  her  services  from  those  who  would 
have  hastened  to  give  them  a  few  years  earlier. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  by 
the  daughter  of  the  late  Professor  Baird  will  there- 
fore be  read  with  interest : 

Philadelphia,  April  11,1896. 
I  have  few  data  in    regard  to    Miss  Jane,     Indeed,  hers  was 
one  of  those  noble,  quiet,   useful  lives,    with  but   little   incident. 


x8 

which  are  harder  to  describe  than  many  of  less  value  but  more 
noise.  I  will  give  you  what  I  can.  She  was  the  youngest  of  a 
large  family  of  children,  all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of 
Professor  W.  W.  Turner,  and  the  two  sisters  whom  we  have 
known  and  loved,  must  have  died  before  1818.  She  was  only 
three  months  old  when  her  parents,  who  were  English,  came  to 
this  country  and  made  a  home  in  New  York. 

About  1852  Professor  Turner  was  appointed  Librarian  to  the 
Patent  Office,  and  soon  after  all  that  remained  of  the  family  came 
to  live  in  Washington. 

Professor  Turner  was  a  very  remarkable  man.  He  was  a 
philologist,  and  was  familiar  not  only  with  the  modern  European 
and  Oriental  languages,  and  in  addition  to  the  usual  Latin  and 
Greek,  with  Hebrew,  Chaldaic,  Coptic,  Syriac,  Samaritan  and 
Sanscrit,  but  he  added  to  these  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
dialects  of  the  American  Indians.  He  was  much  interested  in 
comparative  philology,  and  after  his  death  President  C.  C.  Felton, 
of  Harvard  University,  said  of  him:  "Comparative  philology  few 
men  of  his  age  have  explored  so  thoroughly  as  our  departed  friend. 
He  was  a  man  of  the  highest  character,  lovely  in  disposition  and 
unusually  agreeable  and  witjy  in  conversation. " 

Just  in  what  year  Miss  Jane  was  appointed  to  the  Smithso- 
nian I  do  not  remember.  Professor  Turner  prepared  a  catalogue 
of  the  library,  which  was  published  in  1858,  and  it  seems  probable 
that  she  began  her  work  by  assisting  in  its  preparation.  My 
mother  has  more  than  once  spoken  to  me  of  the  fact  that  Pro- 
fessor Turner  had  himself  trained  his  sister  for  the  work  of  a 
librarian.  This  was,  of  course,  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and 
there  were  then  no  training  schools,  and  there  could  have  been 
few,  if  any,  womeii  so  fitted. 

When  the  Smithsonian  Library  was  deposited  with  the  Con- 
gressional Miss  Jane  was  appointed  an  assistant  to  Mr.  Spofford, 
and  remained  in  charge  of  the  work  to  be  done  at  the  Smith- 
sonian. During  the  year  previous  to  my  father's  death  she 
resigned  her  position.  She  had  proposed  to  take  this  step 
earlier,  but  my  father  urged  her  to  remain,  and  when  her  resig- 
nation was  finally  accepted,  she  was  felt  to  be  a  great  loss. 

Of  her  remarkable  efficiency  and  unvarying  faithfulness,  of 
her  unfailing  courtesy  and  patience,  there  is  no  need  for  me  to 
tell  you.  She  was  a  woman  of  noble  character,  a  firm  and  true 
friend,  a  sincere  Christian,  and  most  humble  in  her  estimate  of 


19 

herself.     She  had  a  great  deal  o£  quiet   humor,   and  was  one  of 
the  most  delightful  of  companions. 

Soon  after  Miss  Jane's  death  the  home  in  South 
B  Stree.  was  broken  up,  but  no  one  who  had  shared 
its  modest  and  genial  hospitality  can  ever  forget  it, 
or  the  elder  sister,  whose  thrifty  care  and  personal 
superintendence  made  possible  the  cheerful  retreat 
and  the  well-served  table,  which  kept  Miss  Jane  in 
health  and  gave   her   courage  to  pursue  her  life-work. 

Miss  Susan  Turner  survives  her  sister,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-eight. 

Caroline  H.  Dall. 

Washington,  D.  C,  November,  /8g6. 


71 


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